Earlier, Crimean Vice-PM Rustam Temirgaliev said that Ukrainian
national energy company Ukrenergo reduced the electricity supply
to Crimea by 50 percent. “Ukrenegro reduced the power in its
power lines cutting the amount of supplied energy by half,”
the top official told Kryminfo news agency.

Temirgaliev described the power shortages as “blackmail”
on behalf of Kiev.

Crimean energy company DTEK Krymenergo said in a statement on its
website that accidents on two power lines connecting the
peninsula with Ukraine forced it to put them offline on Sunday.

There are a total of three power lines coming from Ukraine. All
of them are operated by Ukrenergo.

This comes after Crimea and the port city of Sevastopol
officially joined Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed
law amending the Russian constitution to reflect the transition
on Friday. Earlier, Russian lawmakers ratified both the amendment
and an international treaty with Crimea and Sevastopol, which was
legally required for the incorporation.

The Russian ruble becomes an official currency of the peninsula
on Monday, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia.

Temirgaliev also said earlier the reduction of the energy supply
is Kiev’s attempt to blackmail the Russian Federation into some
concessions. “It can be explained by these people’s
foolishness,” he said. “We don’t have any debts. There
is no reason for the blackout. They are just ‘training.’”

The vice-PM added that Crimea was prepared for such developments.
“We understand what we are signing up for. We will economize
on consumption, but we won't have any disaster, crisis or
collapse.”